


A Scarf in the Snow

by Aeris_Blue



Category: Undertale
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 13:12:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14749517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeris_Blue/pseuds/Aeris_Blue
Summary: W.D. Gaster finds himself out late one night when he decides to knock on a friend’s door, not that they are ever home.





	A Scarf in the Snow

It was a profusely cold day in Snowdin enough for the frigid sting of ice to taint Gaster’s skull and ring through any open cavity it crept through. He pulled his scarf up over his teeth in an attempt to avoid as much of it from being inside of him as he could. The trees that lined the road swayed in the presence of the storm screaming for him to go back. Gaster let out a sigh of relief when at last the door to the ruins came into view. He’d still be outside but at least he could stop fighting to find his footing against the ice.

 

He pressed his back firm against the door tilting his head back to match the surface. He waited, catching the breath he didn’t need before he knocked on the slab like doors. There was no response, but then again there never was. There was only one place in all of the Underground the Queen could have gone without being noticed, he felt the stone against the back of his hand as he knocked again.

 

“I don’t know if you are there, and if you are I know you can’t really understand me,” Gaster willed his soul to let down its’ walls so his emotion could be heard if nothing else, “but I’ve got some things I’d like to tell you.”

 

He turned his head to the door to try and hear any sound of movement on the other side, but there wasn’t. Very rarely had he ever heard even a trace of sound from the otherside of the door. He rubbed his coat sleeves against his arms, “sorry I haven’t been down here as much as I used to, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I started getting discouraged.” He laughed nervously to himself, “never stopped me before right?”

 

“But something has happened in my life,” he crossed his arms looking out along the path of trees. “I’m a dad now,” Gaster was surprised at the pounding his soul gave him that tried to push magic tears from his sockets, he wouldn’t allow that though. “Two boys, twins actually, skeletons, I know you would absolutely love them,” the smile across his face was as genuine as they came and he made no attempt to banish it.

 

So he began in long drawn out explanations every detail he could think of the pair: the way Papyrus laughed, the confused look Sans would get that Gaster had to try not to laugh at, the way the pair of them worked together against everything, how creative Papyrus was, how smart Sans was. He went on for longer than he desired about how impressed he was by Sans’s dedication to the sciences and the hopes he had for his future. Guiltiness spread across his broken soul so he spent just as long talking of Papyrus’s amazing practice with his magic and how he could do things that even Gaster had no hopes of explaining.

 

He spoke of picnics across the Underground and how being trapped didn’t bother him like it used to, he had to pause a moment before adding that he still had every intention of seeing the surface again. His mouth twitched as he began listing everything up there he wanted the boys to see, even if he wasn’t with them.

 

He rubbed at his eye sockets and let out a shaky breath as the cold began to reach him again. He went on to the Underground itself how the Monsters were thriving again, finally the oppressive spirit that had plagued them so long was lifting. He spoke of Grillby and how well his bar was doing and even managed to throw in a few words of Gerson but he didn’t dare speak of Asgore. It was a shame really, he wanted to tell her about how he’s finally smiling whole heartily again and of his little would be assassin now amongst the sentries.

 

Gaster’s knees twitched in the cold so he slouched until he was sitting against the door. “T-Tori?” he hesitated in thinking her name let alone saying it but he’d rambled enough to let it slip. He chuckled to himself, “I hope you get to see my boys someday,” he fidgeted with the edge of his coat sleeve and snuggled deep into the bright red scarf they had made for him, “and that if I’m gone, you’ll be there for them.”

 

“Sans has your terrible taste in humor by the way, let's just say it’s not to mine or Papyrus’s taste but sometimes...he’ll say things and I can hear you howling in laughter,” he pulled his knees to his chest. “I miss you Toriel I can’t tell you how often I’ve thought about you with-” he paused dropping his chin to his knees, “your kids, I’m not half the parent you were.” He knew she couldn’t understand his broken font but he couldn’t help but feel he’d made the one sided conversation awkward.

 

He rubbed his face with his hands immediately regretting the decision as the ice in between his joints scratched against his face. “Well I guess that’s all for this round of Gaster speaks to a door and pretends that doesn’t make him crazy,” he pushed his back against the slab like door as he rose to his feet, “take care of yourself okay?” He placed his palm against the door and shut his eyes listening for the slightest indication that she was actually there. 

 

He dropped his hand turning back to the road, “I’ll try to come around more now. So I can keep talking to a door in the middle of nowhere,” he rubbed his head.

 

“Are you happy?” Gaster flinched turning back to the door, it had to have been a figment of his imagination. That warm but sad tone filled him with such a paining nostalgia he had to have imagined it for it to be real. “Knock once for yes twice for no,” her voice was firm but there was a tremble to it as she held it tight with a confidence she didn’t truly feel.

 

Gaster clenched his fist tight and with as much force as he could muster without causing harm he knocked against the door with a single sound hit. “Oh Gaster I’m so glad to hear that,” her voice was genuine and true. “Forgive me for never answering you,” her voice faltered, “I was so angry! I didn’t want to be found so I- I-”

 

Gaster began pounding on the door in quick pairs of knocks over and over until her building breaths turned to a soft laugh, “I guess that means you don’t resent me for it then?”

 

He knocked once, he didn’t have to see her to know she was smiling. How long had it been since he heard her voice? His bones ignored the cold as he returned to his spot at the base of the door, he let out a small pulse of magic to get it flowing through his bones properly. Toriel was finally talking to him again and he wasn’t going to miss a moment of her voice.

 

So they talked, as best as they could through the door. Toriel lead the conversation occasionally pausing to ask Gaster a question he could knock the answer to. Since her self made exile she had stayed in the ruins after fixing up their old home. The monsters in the ruins avoided her because she had frightened them when she first appeared. She complained about growing old even though she knew she hadn’t, and she went on about some recipes she had yet to try and some she was completely sick of because of the limited resources.

 

She let out a soft puff of air relieved to be talking to someone again, “I wish I could understand your language Wingdings, I was getting really close before I left!” Gaster knocked twice and Toriel laughed her voice howling in uproarious shortenings of breath as years of tension rolled off of her. Gaster felt the constant fog of gray about his soul part in the sound of her laugh. “You just sounded so happy about something, I think happier than I’ve ever heard you without liquor on your breath,” she poked teasingly.

 

Gaster let out a chuckle, he had to agree with her there, though how could she know he wasn’t inebriated? He looked down to his hands, how to tell her? He shut his eyes allowing his magic to turn about in his bones building to the level of his blaster before he blinked his bullets onto the other side of the door. Immediately the pulse of the charm began to grab at his very core and render his magic useless but he focused intently.

 

He heard her gasp so he knew he had at least summoned something over on her side and he just hoped it was a hand. His bones tensed under the writhing pressure coiling in spirals inside his narrow bones, ‘s-o-n-s.’ Before quickly releasing the attack with a shudder, his body flooded with relief as his vision blurred before coming back to focus. 

 

Toriel was silent for a long while, “you? You have children?”

 

Gaster knocked once on the door and Toriel let out a squeal of delight, “oh you have to tell me all about them Dings!” Her excitement dropped, “though I guess you already did- and please don’t try to summon your bullets over here again, the way it flickered looked like it hurt,” the level of concern in her voice belonged to her alone. A comforting mother like feeling that threatened to chase all of the darkness away.

 

Gaster knocked once. He dropped his head again trying to figure out how to make this work, granted, even if he thought of an idea he wouldn’t be able to translate it, luckily Tori thought of a solution, “so are they yours?”

 

He knocked once with a curious expression she couldn’t see, obviously they were his, he fidgeted his fingers against the edge of the scarf. She took note in the quick softness of the knock, “I mean did you have them, like are you with someone?”

 

Gaster knocked twice, it was a recurring question he’d been asked or teased about a multitude of times now and was getting sick of. She moved on quickly enough he didn’t stew on it, “adopted then?”

 

He knocked once but it felt before he even tapped his knuckles to the door she asked her next question, “are they skeletons?”

 

A single knock. “Oh I bet they are adorable!” Gaster knocked once, it hadn’t been a question but it was worth stating. Toriel laughed at the fact he had found it necessary to punctuate the statement with an answer. “Wingdings, I am so happy for you,” there was a touch of melancholy accompanied by a moment of silence before Toriel continued her questioning. She began to guess at things about them, which was difficult to do without their names but it didn’t stop her from trying.

 

Time passed faster than either thought was probable until Gaster’s bones began to rattle against the door, “oh dear, Wingdings is it cold out there?” She paused, “is that the wind? Goodness what are you thinking? I hope you are at least dressed warmly,” he knocked back once knocking some ice loose from his hands.

 

“Go home to your boys!” Toriel demanded, Gaster chuckled as he rose.

 

“Good bye,” he smiled to the door.

 

“Hey Wingdings? Don’t take so long coming back this time okay?” He could hear her use the door to stand, “I can’t promise I will be here, but if I am, I would love to talk with you some more.”

 

He knocked back once, he felt her knock back in the same spot sending a smile to his face. He knew he wouldn’t be able to tell anyone about this encounter but he still couldn’t be happier.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> First post *sways back and forth* So that’s done.
> 
> I’ve been working on a Dadster fic for a while but it grew into a sort of untamable beast so I’m uncertain if I’ll actually post it. If I do, Hey, it already has a companion piece.


End file.
